This month marks the eightieth anniversary of the battle of Ngakyedauk Pass, or as it was more commonly referred to, the battle of the Admin Box.

 This month marks the eightieth anniversary of the battle of Ngakyedauk Pass, or as it was more commonly referred to, the battle of the Admin Box.

This battle was essentially a collision between two opposing offensives.

On the British side, XV Corps was advancing in the northern Arakan to capture Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

The main portion of this offensive consisted of the 5th Indian Division advancing down the coastal plain of the Mayu Peninsula while the 7th Indian Division advanced through the Kalapanzin Valley.

On 9 January 1944 5th Division captured Maungdaw and then pressed on towards Razabil.

While this was underway, 7th Division advanced down the Mayu range and established a large administrative base at Sinzweya.

From there, the British hoped to continue their offensive by capturing the road running between Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

However, before this advance occurred, the Japanese 55th Division launched an offensive of its own, designated Operation HA-GO, against the exposed 7th Division.

If all went well, the local Japanese commander hoped to destroy XV Corps and even garnered ambitions to advance across the border to capture the British staging base at Chittagong.

Commencing on 5 February, the Japanese used infiltration tactics to bypass the forward-deployed British units and cut their lines of communication.

Dispatching one battalion to cross the Maya Range and block the coastal road supplying 5th Division, the bulk of the Japanese force descended upon the Ngakyedauk Pass to isolate and destroy 7th Division, which was commanded by Major-General Frank Messervy.

Once accomplished, the Japanese would then attack westward to destroy the sequestered 5th Division in a piecemeal fashion.

Fortunately for the British, General William Slim, the commander of the Fourteenth Army, had other ideas. Disregarding his severed lines of communication, Slim ordered his besieged units to stand and fight where they were.

Surmising that the Japanese were not strong enough or adequately supported to prevail in a protracted battle against two divisions, he coordinated with Troop Carrier Command to supply his isolated formations by air while he assembled additional reinforcements to send into the area.

In doing so, Slim wagered that the weight of superior British resources would eventually overwhelm the Japanese incursion, but this all depended upon how effectively his exposed forces could hold their positions against the initial Japanese assaults.

The primary result of these competing ambitions was a growing battle that developed around the 7th Division’s administrative base located at Sinzweya near the eastern end of the Ngakyedauk Pass.

Roughly 1,200 yards in diameter, the British initially defended this area, known as the admin box, with an infantry battalion from the 9th Indian Brigade, a mountain artillery regiment, two squadrons of M3 Lee tanks and various headquarters and administrative units under the command of Brigadier Geoffrey Evans.

Later as the battle developed, further reinforcements arrived to support the defenders including a second infantry battalion from the 89th Indian Brigade.

During a period of more than two weeks, this ad hoc garrison successfully repulsed a series of Japanese attacks around the perimeter of the box.

This was no easy task as the fighting was often desperate and sometimes hand to hand.

In one notorious event that occurred on 7 February, Japanese soldiers briefly captured the base’s main dressing station where they killed 35 medical personnel and patients.

A week later, the Japanese carried out a particularly heavy attack that gained them a key hill on the western side of the perimeter, but the British regained this feature the next day through a combined infantry/armour counterattack.

With each passing day, the situation for the Japanese became increasingly dire. There were a number of factors that helped facilitate this deteriorating situation.

Foremost amongst these was the British ability to keep the garrison adequately provisioned using aerial resupply.

Through the duration of the battle, Troop Carrier Command flew 714 sorties that delivered 2,300 tons of supplies to bypassed British units including the defenders of the admin box.

Although Japanese fighter aircraft did attempt to impede these operations, they were generally thwarted by British Spitfire fighters operating out of Chittagong, which gained air superiority over the contested area.

In terms of their ground forces, the Japanese had no way to replicate the materiel support the British were receiving, and their engaged units quickly depleted the limited resources they had started the battle with.

A subsequent Japanese effort to use a mule train to bring supplies forward came to naught when the British captured it en route.

Thus, instead of isolating the British, it was their own forces which became increasingly isolated and devoid of support.

An example of the latter was the fact that the Japanese had no effective counter to the British Lee tanks located in the admin box.

Time and again, these tanks were used to help repulse Japanese attacks or reverse any progress they might make.

By the beginning of the battle’s third week, heavy losses and acute supply shortages rendered the Japanese incapable of continuing a structured assault.

Making matters worse, British reinforcements were now entering the area in increasing numbers.

On 24 February some Japanese units began to disengage without authorisation, and the operation was officially halted two days later.

In the process of withdrawing back to their lines, the Japanese suffered further heavy losses thus bringing their total casualties for the battle to 5,335 including 3,106 fatalities. Corresponding British losses amounted to 3,506 casualties.

This action, which became known as the battle of Ngakyedauk Pass, or more commonly referred to as the battle of the Admin Box, constituted the first significant British ground victory in Southeast Asia.

Not only did the British retain the battlefield, but XV Corps was able to resume its own offensive resulting in the captures of Buthidaung and Razabil on 9 and 12 March respectively.

Perhaps more important, the battle shattered the aura of Japanese invincibility that had haunted the British up to this point in the war. In that regard, the battle was a true turning point within the theatre.

Pictured here are Sikhs of the 7th Indian Division manning an observation post during the battle. No 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit, public domain.

For more information on this and other related topics, see Forgotten War, the British Empire and Commonwealth’s Epic Struggle Against Imperial Japan, 1941-1945.